Shaheen Bagh protesters denied permission by Police to march to Amit Shah’s residence
IRA JHA/
NEW DELHI : Hundreds of women protesting against the citizenship law at Shaheen Bagh have stopped their march to Union home minister Amit Shah’s house midway after being assured of a proper appointment with him.
The women had started the march around 2 pm, hoping for a dialogue with Mr Shah on the citizenship law. They did not have an appointment or the permission for a protest march from the police.
The police said they stopped the march and went back to their sit-in protest after they were told that their application for a meeting has been sent to the home minister. The women told NDTV that they would not give up their protest or allow it to become violent or disorderly.
Delhi Police has not given permission for more than 5,000 protesters of Shaheen Bagh to go on foot to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence, sources said. According to Delhi Police, the protesters from Shaheen Bagh had come with an application at 3 pm on Saturday seeking permission to march to Amit Shah’s residence on Sunday.
The application stated that around 5,000 people will be going to Amit Shah’s residence on foot, a Delhi Police source said. The application was sent to the New Delhi District from where it was forwarded to the Delhi Police headquarters and if sources are to be believed, the permission has been denied to the Shaheen Bagh protesters.
The protesters, mainly women, have been staging a sit-in demonstration for the past two months against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
A section of Shaheen Bagh protesters on Saturday said they were ready to meet Home Minister Amit Shah to raise their concerns over the new citizenship law but added that the onus was on the government to call them for talks.
Protesters said the protest was “leaderless” and it was up to the Home Minister to decide who all he wanted to call for talks. Speaking to media protesters said they have decided to go to Amit Shah’s residence because he recently announced that anyone who has a problem with CAA can meet him and discuss the problem.
“Amit Shah had said if anyone has any problem with the CAA, then he/she can meet him and discuss the problem. Shaheen Bagh has problem with CAA and that’s why tomorrow everyone in Shaheen Bagh will march to Amit Shah’s residence),” one of the protesters said.
“We will march to Amit Shah’s house along with everyone here. We will speak in front of everyone. We will ask him to give in writing that NRC and CAA will be taken back,” a 76-year-old protester told .
The protesting women decided to talk to Mr Shah after his open invitation at the Times Now Summit on Thursday. Anyone with doubts over the CAA could seek an appointment from his office and he would be willing to meet them within the next three days, he had said.
Various leaders of the BJP have made it clear that they consider the protesters as “terrorists” and “anti-nationals”, and egged on crowds to shout “goli maaro” slogans at election rallies.
On Thursday, Mr Shah admitted that such hate speeches should not have been made and admitted that they could have hurt the party’s chances in the election. (With Agency Inputs ).
